World Soccer - UK (2022-07)

I must admit thatI have forgotte
manygamesandgoalsfrom
mycareer. I guessit’snormal,asitwa
quite a longtimeago. Butthatgame
againstRomaniacannot be forgotten.
I remembereverything,asifitwas playd
lastweek, ratherthan 45 yearsago.
Itwas nota good momentfor our
nationalteam.Aftertwodefeats in
thefirsttwogamesofthatcampaign
[1-0inSpainand2-0 at homeagainst
Romania],wewerewritten off. It is
truethatwestillhada tiny,theoretical
chance,butnobodybelieved in it.Tobe
honest,wedidn’tbelievein it.Therewas
a changeof generations,assomebig
playerslike[Dragan]Dzajic, [Branko]
Oblak, [Josip]Katalinskiandothers
hadfinishedtheirinternationalcareers.
ForthematchinBucharest many new
playerswereselectedand we started
withateamthathadlittle experience
onthe internationalscene.
I wasalsoamongthenewcomers;
itwas onlymysecondgamefor
Yugoslavia.Ofcourseit helpedthat
I scoredtwiceonmydebuta few
weeksearlier againstHungary [a
4-3friendlydefeatinBudapest].
Wewentintothe gamewithout
anybigpressure,asnobodyexpected
anythingfromus. We hadnothing to
lose,whilefor thehosts it wasa
must-wingame.
Itwas a weird,spectacularmatch,like
a rollercoaster.Romania tooktheleadin
thesecondminute with a bizarregoal
froma free-kickfrommore than 40
metres.But we foughtbackand we
managedtoequalisequite quickly.
Wehada counter-attack,Zungulsent
a lowcross from theleft-handsideand
I scoredfromcloserangewith my first
touch.Laterwe went 2-1up,butthen
weconcededanothertwogoalsand
athalf-time Romaniawere3-2 up.
Mysecondgoalof thegamemadeit
3-3.I receivedtheballnearthehalfway

NEXTISSUE ON SALEJULY 8

line,startedasolorun,wentpasttwo

defenders,andwhenI enteredthe box

I sawthekeepercomingoutsoI placed

theballintothegoal.

PSGlegend...Susic

inactionfor the

French giants

Romania 4 Yugoslavia 6

WorldCupqualifier,1 97 7,Bucharest

Beforethemodern,Qatar-ownedera,SafeSusic waswidely
consideredthefinestplayer in ParisSaint-ermain’shistory.
Beforemaking hisnamein Francethoug, he wasonhis way
tobecoming a legendofYugoslavianfotball –startingwith
a hat-trickontheroadtothe1 978 WoldCup in Argentina...

SafetSusic

Mythird goal came after ree-kick

for us.Trifunovicrollede ball to me

and Iscoredwith owerfulshotfrom

justoutsidee box. TheRomanian

eeper[DumitruMoraru]didn’tlook

good,but,asI said,itwas a crazygame

withplentyofmistakesonbothsides.

Inthe endwecelebrated a 6-4 win,

butit’s ashame that we didn’tscore

anothergoal.Witha7-4 win,we would

havegonethroughagainstSpainwithany

victory, ratherthanthepressure of having

towinbytwo goals,which provedtoobig

a burdenfor us.Eventuallywelost1-0to

Spain,whowerethebetter teamandwho

deservedlyqualifiedfor theWorld Cup.

LuckilyI didlaterplay at twoWorld

CupswithYugoslavia[1 982 in Spain

and 1990 inItaly],but I will remember

thatmatchagainstRomaniauntil

theendofmylife.

Interviewby VladimirNovak

Yugoslavstar...

Susic went on to

playintwo World

Cupsafter failing

toqualify in1 977

“Itwasonlymysecondgamefor

Yugoslavia...Iscoredtwiceonmy

debutafewweeksearlier”

MYBIGGEST

GAME

l

i

o